It seems that every generation has a major world event that they will remember forever, for example, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed and JFK's assassination. For me, the day I will never forget is Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
Where were you? Matt and I usually watched the morning news, but we didn't turn on the TV that morning as we got ready for school and work (or we turned it off right before the attacks, I can't remember exactly). When I arrived at work, it seemed that no one was around. All of the teachers were glued to their TV sets. I walked into a colleague's classroom and into shock and confusion. There were several teachers there talking about the planes and towers, and they were surprised that I hadn't heard anything yet. In fact, within minutes of my arrival, the second tower collapsed. We were all in tears.
Later that morning, I heard about the Pentagon and wondered about Matt's dad and what he was doing. At the time, he worked within five miles of the Pentagon, and sometimes he was there for meetings. Our principal did her best to prep us to greet the kids, and to not be hysterical. We didn't want the kids to worry too much, and we really wanted them to discuss these things with their parents. It wasn't until later that day that I was able to watch the full coverage of what happened. I think I will always remember the video of the second plane crashing into the second tower.
What now? So many things have happened in eight years in consequence to those attacks. Many would argue that too much money and time and many lives have been wasted. A lot of grief and sorrow have come as a result from so much loss.
I also think, however, that many other things have come from this. For one, patriotism was renewed that day; for others it was turning back to God. Either way, I think today is a day to remember the heroes of that day. By heroes I mean those that were sacrificed against their will, those that sacrificed their will and lives to save others, and those that have had to suffer the loss and loved ones and move on.
In honor of these heroes, I think of William Joseph's song "Heroes." I know it was written for the Olympics (although not chosen for it), but I always think of the men and women who are daily sacrificing their freedoms for ours. Since there isn't a good recording of it of which I know, here is the link to another song he wrote called "Sweet Remembrance of You" that a lyricist has written words to it and called it, "O, America."*
*I personally preferred the song without the lyrics because I had my own vision of the song. Either way, though, it's a wonderful piece.
I remember that day too. I was in Chile and didn't understand what happened since my Spanish was shaky. I didn't see the towers fall until a year or 2 later. Now I hear about it from people who were living here and the terror they experienced.
ReplyDeleteAnother historically bad day I remember was Columbine. Fox Hall. Scary stuff.
I was driving to work in my car, when they announced on the radio that the BYU devotional for the day was canceled due to the events of the day. I couldn't figure out what that meant, until I got to work and asked my coworkers what was going on. I almost couldn't believe them when they told me.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I wasn't able to watch much television that day or that week. I saw the replay of the towers, but I didn't have to sit there and agonize through it over and over again.